'I could see the fear in his eyes. I told him, you'll be all right': Shark victim's widow relives the last moments

The anguished bride of shark attack victim Ian Redmond last night told how she tenderly stroked his face and whispered words of comfort as his life ebbed away on a paradise beach.

Teacher Gemma Redmond, 27, knew her 30-year-old husband was moments from death when he was brought ashore in a dinghy with appalling injuries after being savaged while snorkelling off the Seychelles.

Sensing his terror, however, she courageously overcame her own shock and grief to hold him close to her and reassure him that he would pull through.

Nightmare: Gemma Redmond puts on a brave smile after her husband Ian was killed by a shark on the Seychelles

Close-knit community: A ceremony was held on Praslin Island in remembrance of Mr Redmond. attended by local ministers, shopkeepers and hoteliers

Memorial ceremony: The 40-minute ceremony was for people from the local community to pay their respects

Describing the aftermath of the deadly attack for the first time, she said: ‘He looked up at me and I looked up at him. And I could see a mixture in his eyes of fear and of realisation – relief that he had seen me and that I was there.

‘I reached out my hand and held his face and I got his hand and held it to my chest and I said to him, “You are going to be all right – we’re going to look after you. We are going to sort you out”.’

Then, choking back tears, she added: ‘I think I told him I love him very much – I hope I did.’

Mr and Mrs Redmond, who shared a passion for adventure and the outdoors, flew to the islands for the honeymoon of their dreams after marrying in their home county of Lancashire.

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For ten days, the holiday had proved every bit as exhilarating as they had imagined, as they hiked the lush hills and bathed in topaz waters.

Tuesday started out as another perfect afternoon. After a leisurely shellfish lunch at a palm-shaded restaurant on one of the world’s finest beaches, Anse Lazio, on Praslin Island, Mr Redmond was eager to swim with the turtles.

So they wandered along the powdery white sands to the best viewing point, near some boulders at the far western end of the cove.

Terror on the beach: Anse Lazio, where a killer shark has struck twice

Just two weeks earlier, a young French holidaymaker, Nicolas Virolle, had been killed by a shark less than 400 yards from that spot, and the island’s tourism chief claims holidaymakers were warned, albeit informally, not to snorkel there.

The authorities in the Seychelles have been criticised for not properly warning tourists of the dangers.

Mrs Redmond said her husband had no idea he was in any danger as he put on his mask and flippers and waded into the tepid shallows.

‘Ian had laughed at me when we were at Denis Island (a nearby outcrop) and heard a man teasing his wife, saying “Ooh, there are sharks and things”.

‘And I asked the lady on reception if there were sharks and she said, “No, not in the Seychelles. The Seychelles are very, very safe waters”.

'I SAW TWO ATTACKS IN A MONTH'

A barman working on Praslin has spoken of witnessing two shark attack victims in less than a month.

Belo Brescia, 52, was on the beach when Ian Redmond was dragged from the water after being attacked by the shark.

The Seychelles' native said that, as he approached, a doctor was trying to help the unconscious 30-year-old.

He
said: 'I didn't see the guy being attacked but when I went to see what
was going on there was a doctor, who was also a tourist, doing his best
to help the guy.

'It was too late though - he was unconscious and wasn't breathing at all.I saw his wife, she was very distressed and people kept her away. There were professionals working on him but it was too late.'

Mr
Brescia said the couple had eaten lunch at the Bonbon Plume restaurant
on Anse Lazio beach, where he worked, before the attack.

And Mr
Brescia said he came to the aid of 36-year-old French tourist Nicolas
Francois Virolle, who was killed near the same location two weeks ago.

He
said: 'It was on the same beach but it was a different spot from this
latest attack. He was staying on his own and went for swim. He was still
conscious when he was brought onto the beach after the attack.

'Everyone on the beach had heard him shout because he wasn't far out. There was a boat nearby and someone picked him up.

'I
held his hand until the ambulance came. His leg had been badly bitten
and I was talking to him trying to keep him calm and still.
Unfortunately the wounds were too severe and he later died.'

‘And one of the reasons that we picked the Seychelles was the beautiful waters, the fact that it’s like an underwater aquarium, and there’s not really any dangerous animals.

‘We had heard of the stone fish (a poisonous fish often found in the Indian Ocean) and that you have to be aware of currents when you are snorkelling but we didn’t really think that sharks would be in the Seychelles at all. It wasn’t something we were aware of.’

Lazing in the sun as her IT consultant husband began to explore a calm stretch of water no more than 6ft or 7ft deep, Mrs Redmond hadn’t a care in the world.

‘I could see it was very, very clear. The sea is very beautiful. And I could see him there,’ she said. ‘I could see the top of his snorkel because he had a bright orange band around it, so I could always follow where he was.

‘All of a sudden I heard this “Help!” I thought at first he was sneezing because when he snorkelled the other day he sneezed into his snorkel and it made the most tremendous noise around the bay.

‘So I looked up at this and thought he is sneezing, and I heard it again. I heard “help”. And the most awful scream – I can still hear it now when I close my eyes.

‘He has never screamed like that before because he is such a strong man – so brave.’

Mr Redmond was indeed tall and powerfully built; but at that moment he was being attacked by a force no-one could have withstood.

South African experts are flying to the Seychelles this weekend to try to identify and track down the predator, thought to be a bull shark at least eight-feet long.

Mr Redmond was pulled into the dinghy by two Frenchmen who sailed to his assistance from a yacht moored in the bay.

By the time they reached him, he had lost so much blood that he was already close to death. As the little boat arrived on the shore, Mrs Redmond ran out to meet it.

‘The man who pulled the speedboat in wouldn’t let me go to it and I screamed at him and said “It’s my husband!”. He looked me in the eyes and said, “Go on then”.

‘I could see him laid back in the boat, with his arms out. And he was conscious.’

As she cradled him in her arms, however, the man she had loved for nine years, and with whom she planned to raise a family, slipped away.

Mrs Redmond couldn’t bear to let him go, and they had to be prised gently apart.

‘A man dragged me away. They were very kind, the men. They picked me up and I don’t remember my legs touching the floor and I was very distressed.

‘And then they took him out of the boat and brought him somewhere high up on to the beach.’

Despite criticisms over the lack of warnings following the previous fatal shark attack, Mrs Redmond, who was interviewed by the BBC, refused to criticise the authorities.

Even in the depths of her grief, she was worried for the islanders.

‘The last thing I would want is for any of these events to affect the Seychelles people, their livelihoods and tourism in the area,’ she said.

‘It is a beautiful place, people must come. It is a one-off accident and I know that everyone is doing everything that they can to ensure the islands are safe.’

All smiles: Ian Redmond and Gemma Houghton on their wedding day on August 7, before they flew to the Seychelles for their honeymoon

Honeymoon destination: Anse Lazio beach in the Seychelles, where the attack took place